We were super-excited when we got the chance to talk with Alex Ross, the New Yorker's resident classical music critic (and blogger). Ross's writing has profoundly affected the way we think about music and music writing in all its genres and forms, and his twin enthusiasm for new classical music of the 21st century along with his deep love of the profoundly musical Icelandic pixie that is Björk always liven up our weekly periodicals reading......

Last week's winner, the deceptive SF Weekly. Letters abound, either outraged by the fake Barry Bonds story or entertained by the elk. Why don't the negative letters have the names of the authors? Are you now questioning all the journalism you read in the Weekly now, or did you just think it was a good joke? Matt Smith says Gavin Newsom is supporting a cult. No, not the cult of Gavin, though no doubt Gavin......

Last week's winner, the SF Weekly: Someone's angry with the Bouncer. Local progressive Adam Werbach is a Walmart sellout. Why won't anyone endorse the mayor? Cover article: the back story about the Haight neighborhood activist killed in an S/M session gone wrong. These drawings illustrating the piece are pretty rad, though (see left) -- did Matt Smith do 'em? A Hank Williams Birthday Karaoke Sing-Off???? There's a tear in our beer too! The anti-war Berkeley......

Last week's winner, the SF Weekly. Hey, someone spilled alcohol on our issue! Or at least we hope it's only alcohol.... We're now only gingerly turning the pages. Please don't be pee. Letters: Someone hates Chris Daly. You can't talk to MUNI head Nat Ford when he's in the john? (Cartoon at left.) Cover article: The Treasure Island Music Fest is gonna be awesome!!!!!!! (We have got to remember to pick up tickets for it......

Last week's winner, the East Bay Express. Dream cartoonist: Fascist zombies versus Marxist ones. So hard to tell the difference sometimes! The situation with the Oakland Trib union. Internal disputes at an East Bay lesbian bar. Cover article: should you store your baby's umbilical cord blood or donate it? Hand-churned ice cream in Fruitvale. Hey, we didn't know I Like Eating is a teacher! We would totally be in I Like Eating's homeroom class! Yoshi's......

Last week's winner, the SF Weekly. Hey, why is Sucka Free City before the letters this week? Anti-Jewish slurs at Rainbow Grocery. The story behind that weird killing in Hayes Valley you guys got all worked up at us about (blah blah blah, hipsters, blah blah, SFist is racist, blah blah). Cover article: Disbar more lawyers. We are adoring the cautious yet game-for-adventure tone in this Southern Exposure pie delivery service piece! Meredith Brody bills......

Back after the July 4th break! The winner from two weeks ago: the SJ Metro. This Media News Corp. group taking over the Merc News is bad for local news coverage. Dude! We need to start following San Jose local politics -- one of their city council members eloped last weekend! Annalee Newitz liked Transformers. Bodybuilders in San Jose this weekend -- look at the cords on that guy's neck! Cover article: we're embarrassed to......

Last week's winner, as picked by SFist Sarah -- the Bay Guardian! Steven T. Jones takes over the opening editorial from Tim Redmond this week. It does not mention Burning Man! Recalls go too far. Club 6 -- still open. Why can't the Chron make money? Now serving at Cafe Gratitude: "I Am....Sued." San Francisco water may be causing rashes. Thank goodness Ed Jew doesn't have to worry about that! (okay, to be fair, we're......

Get that gigantic backpack and sleeping bag and trek on over to Cody's Books on Fourth Street, as Tony and Maureen Wheeler, the founders of Lonely Planet, read from their new books, Unlikely Destinations (the story of Lonely Planet) and Bad Lands (Tony's trips to dangerous countries). If you can't make tonight's reading (7 p.m.), they're in town through Friday, reading at Get Lost in SF tomorrow night and Book Passage in Corte Madera on......

It's our week up on the weekly-reading duties! Last week's winner from SFist Sarah L, the SF Weekly. A letter writer says: "While Matt [Gonzalez] may not be the next Picasso (but don't count him out)..." It doesn't matter what the rest of the letter says. The SF Fire Department gave a bad test. Cover article: We hate baby boomers and their dirty self-centered hippie ways. Carnivorous plants! Yay, the SFIFF! A flyer fell out......

On time this week! Last week's winner: the East Bay Express. All pro-Wiccan letters except for one, which says witchcraft is not a religion. That's right -- it's a sandwich store! The mayors of Alameda and Oakland suck. Skating in the East Bay. Cover article: a local Burning Man DJ is popular, wants to get into hip-hop. That new movie by the Shawn of the Dead guys is pretty funny. Is payola coming back for......

Before we kick things off, we should give a big shoutout to SFist Sarah L, who generously stepped in to read the weeklies for us while we were away. Thanks, SFist Sarah L! She rocked it so hard we're going to start alternating weeks for weekly-reading from here on out. Now, who did SFist Sarah L pick to win last week? The Metro! Gary Singh on San Jose soccer. The FBI may start investigating local......

Last week's winner, the SF Weekly: Gosh, the Chron seems awfully enthralled with that Zodiac movie, doesn't it? Also, more on the Leno/Migden throwdown, quoting Paul Hogarth from Beyond Chron (who now supports Leno). Cover article: An awesome piece about mentally ill dogs. Who knew bordie collies got OCD? Meredith goes to the Presidio Social Club; SFist Ced gruffly concedes maybe she's been doing a good job lately. Let's Get Killed laments the new boring......

Last week's winner, the Bay Guardian. Tim Redmond says the progressives need something to do (so why not run a mayoral candidate?). Too many skyscrapers. Wi-fi and sunshine laws, Ruby Rippey-Tourk, cars in Golden Gate Park, and SF is totally unprepared for global warming. The gay porn Oscars! Cover articles: Noise Pop! SFist Elaine says to check out Scissors for Lefty. Dude, there's like a review for every band playing! Yay Noise Pop! L.E. Leone......

Last week's winner, the SF Weekly: Those of you longing for less Newsom news, the Weekly is your place! It's an entirely Ruby Tourk-free issue (except for the first two paragraphs of Matt Smith, at which point he then changes the subject entirely to talk some more about the city golf courses). More letters about Jade-Blue Eclipse. Has Nancy Pelosi had a facelift? People upset about the increase in fees for a state medical marijuana......

We have no illusions anyone's going to read this column today what with all this news about Gavin Newsom's affair with his campaign manager's wife -- but we soldier on nonetheless. Last week's winner, the SF Weekly. Matt Smith rails about some kind of corruption at SFO. No, not an affair with your campaign manager's wife. The Apologist is leaving the Weekly -- oh no! The final Apologist -- are you an Apologist for the......

Last week's winner, the East Bay Express: Well, this is interesting! Bottom Feeder Will Harper is leaving the EBX to become the executive editor of the SF Weekly. We're sorry to see Harper leave, but we're excited to see what he does at the sister SF publication! Plus, this collection of Bottom Feeder's greatest hits is pretty exciting. We may not be making as much money off stem cells as everyone says we will --......

Those of you who've been vociferously participating in our ongoing debates about Falun Gong, Mormonism, and Scientology will be pleased to hear that we spent tonight steeped in Mozart's Catholic Mass in C minor at Symphony Hall. Begin the transsubstantiation debates in the comments.... now! We had promised our companion a tour of the swanky digs in the press room at Symphony Hall before the concert, as well as some of their excellent cookies......

Let's hear it for SFist Sarah L and her awesome weeklies wrapup from last week! Whoooo! And an extra-special thanks for compiling not only a weekly of the week but the weekly of the year as well. So let's get 2007 started right, with the weekly of the year, the Bay Guardian. Yes, we know, we usually start with the weekly of the week, but we wanted an excuse to run a picture of that......

It doesn't feel right that we're subbing in for SFist Ced, who's on hiatus for a few months -- so we're doing a combination Gastronomique/Philistine review in his honor! Before heading out to the SF Youth Orchestra's Peter and the Wolf holiday concert this afternoon, we grabbed brunch at new trendy Mission bistro Weird Fish. Weird Fish is a combination seafood/vegan restaurant at 18th and Mission -- and the fish isn't really that weird. For......

It's gotta be hard to perform at the symphony in the winter -- a number of musical sneezes and coughs periodically punctuated Wednesday's San Francisco Symphony movie-themed performances, helmed by guest conductor David Zinman. Get well soon, Wednesday night ticketholders! It was a night of romantic movie themes and orchestral folk music (and one modern piece described in the program as "an aircraft revving for takeoff"), with violinist Hilary Hahn the main star. A poker-faced......

Last week's winner, the SF Weekly. Matt Smith tries to solve a murder from 2003. The Apologist on the new mall. Paper City folds. Cover article: discrimination against mothers in the workplace. The Brutal Sound Effects Festival -- sounds intriguing, doesn't it? Meredith Brody goes to Front Porch with Hiya Swanhuyser. Everyone seems to like Hiya at the Weekly! SFist Ced has nothing bad to say about the review, but is now taking bets on......

We gobble the various food sections up each Wednesday. These are our favorite tidbits from today's offerings: SF Chronicle Stanford alum and local food writer Janet Fletcher gives three quickie menus--that’s 90 minutes if you have sharp knives and decent kitchen skills--to entertain during the holidays. We may try out Linda Furiya’s Five-Spice Persimmon Cake for a holiday party we’re attending this Sunday. It sounds sweet with a little spice and will feed sixteen......

Since SFist Ced's taking a little break from concerts, we're now on classical music duty around these parts. And we're very excited to say that our first Philistine classical concert review's going to be for violinist (and friend of Nicolas Cage) Hilary Hahn, who'll be performing the Korngold concerto this upcoming Wednesday through Friday with the SF Symphony. The Korngold incorporates various movie themes from 1930s Hollywood, and the symphony will also be performing Aaron......

Last week's winner, the SF Weekly. First, Dianne Feinstein came for the animal rights activists, and we said nothing. What are some of the election day losers doing now? Well, Krissy Keefer has been offered $100,000 to run against Gavin Newsom. Cover article: Chron blogs editor (and SFist editor emerita) Eve Batey must save the Chronicle!! (In a travesty of justice, Eve is not mentioned in the piece. Boooo!). It's actually a pretty decent article......

Last week's winner, the SF Weekly. Hey, they're looking for people who want to write short features about life in the city that call out suckas for Sucka Free City. Dude, if you want to write short features about life in the city that call out suckas in the city, write for SFist! Matt Smith on SF voting machines. Are you an apologist for San Francisco values? Pipsqueak-a-go-go. Cover article: Corporation buys up low-income housing......

Last week's winner, the East Bay Express. DAMN Choreography objects to an article about them with the title "Tits and Assets." It's their special East Bay politics issue! Political bloggers wreaking havoc in Alameda, that Democrat running against Pombo might actually win, hipsters are voting for Aimee Allison. The EBX recommendations, plus a genius move -- polling people about fake propositions. We liked the school vending machine tax to go to anti-bullying programs, and the......

The SF Bomb Squad's given the all-clear for a bomb scare outside Davies Symphony Hall this morning, on the Hayes Street side. Hey, we don't want to hear about a bomb scare at Symphony Hall -- we're supposed to be meeting the Philistine SFist Ced there later tonight! An alert gardener noticed a 3 foot by 1 foot yellow tub with a wire coming out of it, on top of a bottle and some liquid,......

Last week's winner, the SF Weekly. Josh Wolf's mom writes a letter, as does transgender activist Chris Daley and an angry rebutter to Hiya Swanhuyser 's article about a rural rock documentary. The Bouncer's article about Huey Lewis and the mentally disabled won an award and is included in the Best Music Writing of 2006 anthology. Congrats, Bouncer! Are you an Apologist for the Blue Angels? If you're SFist Jon, the answer is yes. Skater......

No winner last week, so we're going in random order. First up: the SJ Metro. Gary Singh had a crazy South Bay weekend. Is Palo Alto really as crime-ridden as they say? Cover article: The South Bay Best Of. Wow, this font is hard to read. It's broken down by city, with a readers' choice section. We didn't win their Best Blog award, which is only fair since we almost never talk about the South......